Friday, July 13, 2012

SAFE HOUSE: NOT QUITE BOURNE


Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that as Denzel Washington gets older he's playing more and more characters with killer instincts? In SAFE HOUSE, Washington once more plays a character that you hope you never find tracking you down or waiting in your home.

The film opens with Washington meeting a member of MI6, Britain's spy agency, and receiving a microchip filled with information. Heading to the bathroom of the restaurant they're in, he injects it into his hip. When the bad guys come knocking on the restroom door Washington dispatches them with ease and escapes. The MI6 agent picks him up in his car but before they can get away he's shot. Washington makes his escape to the American consulate and turns himself in.

We discover that Washington's name is Tobin Frost, an ex-CIA agent who went off the grid and has been selling secrets to various organizations around the world. Considered a traitor, the consulate turns out to be in South Africa and he's to be taken to a safe house until a team can get to him and "extract" information from him.

The safe house is operated by a fairly new agent named Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds). It's his first assignment with the CIA and he wants to impress, to move forward. He gets his chance when the information team arrives closely followed by the hit squad that was chasing Frost to begin with. They take out the team but before they can take Frost, Weston escapes with him only to be tracked down. They eventually escape but you know this assassination team will eventually find them.

Calling in, Weston is told that he needs to move forward to another location and pick up the means necessary to get Frost to another safe house in South Africa. After picking up the package with various items he needs at lockers in a crowded soccer stadium, Frost causes a scene claiming he's been kidnapped. The security believes him and ignores Weston's pleas only to have Frost kill his guards and escape. Weston follows suit and continues his chase of Frost.

But there's more going on here than a simple chase film. The movie is also about what caused Frost to become who he is today and watches as Weston alters from a totally innocent and naive agent into something much more deadly. The fact that Frost has a background in psychological warfare makes the viewer wonder is he just trying to mess with Weston's head or is he trying to help he get a view of the bigger picture? The answer to that question isn't offered until near the end of the film.

Another question that runs through the film is the fact that somewhere in the CIA there is a traitor. How is it that the assassination team knew where the safe house was? How have they been able to track down Frost as he moves from place to place? And who gave them the information that led them to him at the beginning of the film? As viewers we wonder about these questions. As a participant, Weston must try and find the answers to these questions as well, never knowing who is an ally or foe.

The film moves at a frantic pace with tons of car chases, gun fights and hand to hand combat sequences. Unlike the spy films of the past, people actually get shot, stabbed and bleed. There is a touch more realism here than spy films past. But that goes hand in hand with the story of undeserved loyalty and questions of deciphering who exactly the bad guy is.

Washington has never been better. There are subtle plays at work here he delivers that make you wonder if Frost is good, bad or indifferent. The answer is found by the end of the film. Reynolds does an equally great job portraying an innocence in his character that gets jaded as the film progresses. How he ends up, what he will become is also answered by the end of the film.

Most films like these today are compared less with Bond and more with Jason Bourne. This film is grittier than the Bourne films and much more so than the Bond series. It will hold your attention and have you guessing from start to finish as to what is actually on the microchip that Frost has possession of. It delivers the goods from start to finish an is well worth taking the time to sit back, watch and enjoy.

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